Our investigation
The bank acknowledged it should not have closed the joint account without Astrid’s permission. It was a breach of administrative process: a staff member had failed to contact Astrid. This failure had not, however, caused her any financial loss because she still had access to funds in other accounts. Even so, the bank’s action had caused her stress and inconvenience, as became apparent from listening to recordings of her phone calls to the bank. She had also sought legal advice about the matter.
Outcome
We recommended the bank pay Astrid compensation of $2,000 for stress and inconvenience and reimburse her legal costs of $1,000. The bank made this offer,and Astrid accepted it.
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